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Re: The Merge: Tales of London

Re: The Merge: Tales of London

Caroline

"I'm sorry Janet, I'm so used to just talking to one group of people with a similar language, that I usually just go with the basic Tongues spell that only affects me." she looked abashed. "If you want, I can tweak it so that it includes everyone in this room. It's not permanent and only lasts so long as I don't cast another spell." she looked at the others.

"Unless it's a life or death situation, I always make sure to give people a choice on whether or not to have a spell cast on them, even harmless ones." she said. "This particular variation also allows one to speak to animals as well as see and speak to spirits."

ooc
Casting even a harmless spell on a foreign diplomat or ally without his or her permission would be a very bad faux pax. Soooo.

Re: The Merge: Tales of London

Griffin said in English "I don't mind, either. I have that gift running 24/7 anyway so I probably won't even notice any difference. The main reason I started speaking German when I entered the Embassy was because of it being the Lingua Europa of the world that Mechanicsburg came from. You couldn't consider yourself to be educated if you didn't speak and read it! And His Excellency was quite surprised that English is the language of modern culture, politics, science and trade."

The Ambassador also said in English "That was quite a surprise, I assure you. You have my permission to cast your spell, Frau Daniels. When we found out that there were countries here that spoke a language we knew, we sought to make friendly alliances with them. We managed to get a trade deal going with the European Union after the Incursion. They wanted us to formally join them, but the Lady calmly and firmly refused them."

Griffin said "That's because the terms of joining the EU under Article 49 of the Treaty of Lisbon require joining the Eurozone, the Schengen Area and their customs union. A democratic government is also a requirement. Remember, there are six pre-Merge countries where German is spoken and recognised as an official language: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and a very small part of Belgium. Five of those are EU countries so you can imagine why at least being at peace with them seems like a good idea."

OOC: The Schengen Area is the reason that citizens of EU members on the Continent can freely travel between other EU countries. The customs union means that goods from one EU country can't be affected by tariffs from another EU country. It also means that you have to let the EU conduct trade deals on your country's behalf.